How to Make Money Online for Beginners (For Free!)

People all over the world make money online every day. Yet, this can be pretty intimidating for someone not used to the process.

So, if you are new to this, we are going to take you through all the different ways to make money online for beginners- for free!

Its about finding your passion and turning that passion to profit.

While freelance writing and online proofreading are some of the most straightforward money-making methods, we are going to take a look at other simple online money-making ideas that have stood the test of time.

Rest assured, this is a long list of opportunities beginners can take advantage of today. We have included a number of creative ideas that are fun, flexible and can be completely passive.

These ideas do not require a degree or qualification to begin, so keep reading to discover how to make money online as a beginner and work from anywhere in the world!

How to Make Money Online for Beginners

There are plenty of ways to make money online using the skills you already have. But if you are looking for ways to improve your knowledge, take advantage of our free Skillshare trial offer, where you can get access to hundreds of online classes for a limited time.

Some of the popular SkillShare classes include, graphic design, illustration, fine arts, business and marketing, photography, video editing, animation and more. 

Now let’s begin with this list of 27 ways to make money online as a beginner from home.

1. Make Money Online as a Research Participant 

How much you earn: On average you can expect to earn $50 to $300 per study.

What it is: Larger corporations worldwide continuously look for research participants to give them feedback on products or services they offer.

One way they do that is to recruit and pay interested participants, through websites like Respondent.io and User Interviews.

The way it works is that they post regular research opportunities online and you get to choose which one’s you’d like to participate in.  Once you have successfully participated in a study they pay you the price that was listed.

How to get started: Sign up with Respondent.io and User Interviews to make money online.

2. Freelance Writing

What it is: Whenever you ask what is the best way to make money online for beginners, the most commonly recommended method is to start freelance writing. This line of work is still popular today.

You can choose to write for countless categories, including:

• academic writing
• blog writing
• eBooks
• online courses
• memoir writing
• write copy for brochures
• email newsletters
• online marketing content

How to get started: You can get started by contacting local or international businesses online and offering to write for them. These days, you’ll find freelance writing positions on job sites and social media networks like LinkedIn and Facebook.

Check out our other post here on 20 places to make money online as a beginner writer.

3. Virtual Assistant

What it is: Businesses small and large outsource a majority of their administrative work to virtual assistants. 

You can help businesses and other professionals (including freelance writers) with admin work so they can focus on more urgent tasks.

Apart from bloggers and other online business owners, there are many other professionals who may need the help of a virtual assistant. Here are a few worth mentioning:

• Real estate agents
• Healthcare sector
• Educational institutions
• Social media influencers
• Bookkeepers
• Non-profit organisations

As a virtual assistant you can either market yourself as an all-rounder or choose a specific niche to become an expert in, like a VA in email management, content marketing or graphic designing.

You can also become a real estate VA or if you are good with social media, you can consider becoming a Pinterest VA.

How to get started: If you are looking for online training, read our post on how to become a virtual assistant and work from home.

Where to find work: You can advertise as a virtual assistant on social media channels and freelance marketplaces. Plus, businesses also hire assistants through conventional job sites like Indeed, Flex Jobs and ZipRecruiter.

Here are 24 online jobs sites that often hire virtual assistants.

4. Online Proofreading Jobs for Beginners

What it is: Freelance writers, authors, bloggers, and online businesses need your help to check their posts for errors such as, grammar and punctuation mistakes.

As a proofreader, you will check that the writing is clean and error-free. Proofreading is the process of reading through written content and mark down mistakes.

How to get started: Take a look at our post on how to become an online proofreader as  a beginner. This post is helpful because it also includes a list of 30 sites that offer proofreading jobs for beginners.

Another way to get started is to contact your favorite blog or news site. They post plenty of articles and are always in need of proofreaders.

5. Virtual Bookkeeper

What it is: Are you looking for a lucrative high paying online job without a degree?

I have interviewed a few online (beginner) bookkeepers on my site, who earn close to $10,000 a month and you can too. They are stay-at-home parents who were looking to replace their full-time income, working from home. Read their full interview here.

People who enjoy working with numbers can also make money from their skills. Small businesses and other online professionals need help preparing financial statements and more.

As a bookkeeper you can make money online as a beginner and work from anywhere in the world with just your laptop.

How to get started: One of the most popular online trainings to become a bookkeeper is the Bookkeepers.com, where you can learn to become a well-paid bookkeeper in 90 days or less!

You can check out their free online classes to see if this career is the right fit for you.

6. Sell Printables Online

What it is: When anyone thinks of how to make money online for beginners, they rarely think about selling printables. These are digital files that you can create and sell on places like Etsy. Some examples of printables that you can sell are:

• Calendars
• Planners – daily/weekly/monthly
• Wall art
• Scripture cards
• Budget templates
• Cleaning schedules
• Weight loss tracker
• Wall art
• Checklists
• Colouring sheets

How to get started: Start by brainstorming the type of printables you want to sell from the list above.

If you are new to this, mom blogger Tracie Fobes, has created this very easy to understand online course for bloggers and entrepreneurs to learn how to create and sell printables online. Check out her online course here.

Selling printables is a great passive income stream, which can make a great second source of income.

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Once you create the printables and set up your store, you will be making sales without lifting a muscle. Since the sales are digital file downloads, you do not need to worry about packing, shipping and handling product sales!

7. Digital stickers

Apart from selling printables, you can also consider selling digital stickers as a fun way to make money online as a beginner. 

Digital stickers are PNG files used by digital planner users to customise their planner. So just like you would stick physical stickers on a paper planner, those who use digital planners on their iPad or Tablets use digital stickers.

Also read this post on fun jobs that pay well without a degree.

How to get started: Read our full post on how to sell digital stickers from scratch, to check out our interview with Michelle who made over $7000 selling digital stickers on her store within 6 months.

8. Create and Sell Digital Planners

What it is: Another popular digital product to sell are digital planners.

Digital planners are nothing but planners that you can use to view on your tablet or iPad. The planner tabs are hyper-linked so when you click on the tabs you can flip through the pages.

Like printables and digital stickers, digital planners sell well on Etsy or you can set up your own online store.

How to begin: Jayme has this fantastic course, with 12 hours of instructional videos that will take you through the whole process of creating your first planner – step-by-step. This course is designed for beginners who want to make money online, selling digital products.

9. Photo editing

How much you earn: $50-$100 an hour

What it is: You can also make money online from home completing simple photo edits as a freelancer photo editor.

Many photographers outsource their editing jobs to freelancers. One such expert freelance photo editor is Katie Rivera, who earns over $75,000 a year working from home as a freelance photo editor.

Katie earns a full-time income, working part-time hours editing for wedding and portrait photographers.

How to begin: Katie has created a free online course to make money online for beginners who have zero photography or photo editing experience. This free training by Katie, shows how you can earn $50-$100 an hour as a remote photo editor.

10. Sell Dog treats 

If you like to bake your way to a business from home, you could consider selling dog treats online.

This side hustle can help you make over $1,000 a month working part-time from your kitchen.

Read our full post here on how you can start a dog treat business, including dog recipes, how to price your treats and more.

11. Amazon FBA

What it is: Fulfillment By Amazon or Amazon FBA is another answer to how to make money online for beginners.

Simply put, you store the products you want to sell with Amazon who will deliver them to buyers when you get a sale.

How to get started: You can begin by registering with Fulfillment By Amazon. Then, create your product listings and send them to Amazon to handle the rest.

12. Make money online with Paid Surveys

What it is: Another long-established answer to how to make money online for beginners is by taking online surveys.

Companies worldwide want to know what you think, and they’ll pay you to take their surveys.

How to get started: Starting is easy. All you have to do is register with an online survey provider like Swagbucks, Survey Junkie, or Branded Surveys, and you’ll be answering your first survey in no time.

13. Sell Online Courses

What it is: Another excellent way to make money online is to teach people something you know. Put together a course about a hobby or subject you love, and people will pay to learn from you.

How to get started: Sites like Udemy and others are excellent places for you to prepare and sell online courses.

Start an account, pick a topic, and make your knowledge available to others.

14. Become A Social Media Manager

What it is: Almost every person and business nowadays has a social media presence. But they don’t necessarily have the time to run those accounts themselves.

That’s why there’s a significant demand for social media managers who can manage those accounts on their behalf.

How to get started: Like many other money-making ideas on this list, small businesses are your best bet.

They often don’t have the time or energy to develop their social media accounts, and that’s an opportunity for you to step in!

Here is our in-depth post on how you can become a social media manager and make money online.

15. Become A Voice-Actor

What it is: Voice acting is when you record your voice according to a script. That could be done to narrate a video or even as an audio recording for something like an audiobook.

There are all kinds of projects online that require unique voices like yours, which presents an earning opportunity for you.

How to get started: You can become a voice actor by signing up for an online talent marketplace that will connect you to clients.

Some like Voices.com are specifically for voice actors, though other general ones like Fiverr are also excellent places to start.

16. Transcriptionist Jobs

What it is: Above, you’ve seen jobs that involve turning a script into a voice or video recording. 

Transcription jobs work the other way around. You’ll watch a video or listen to an audio recording and type out what’s being said, word for word.

Your clients will use your work as subtitles and transcripts.

How to get started: You can get started immediately with nothing more than a keyboard and a pair of headphones. Check out these 30 places to find online transcription jobs.

17. Passive Income – With A Blog/YouTube Channel

What it is: Not all online earning ideas involve trading all your time for money. You can also earn passive income by starting a blog or a YouTube channel.

As long as people keep visiting your blog articles or watching your YouTube videos, you’ll continue earning passively from your work.

How to get started: You can open an account and start uploading content within minutes. YouTube is excellent for videos, and WordPress is a popular choice among small and large bloggers alike.

18. Sell Stock Photos

What it is: An often-overlooked answer to how to make money online for beginners is with your photographs.

If you have a passion for photography and lots of pictures in your collection, you can make money by selling them as stock photos.

How to get started: Popular stock photo websites like Shutterstock don’t just sell images, but they also buy them. So create a profile with them and upload your best images to put them up for sale.

19. Sell Handmade Goods On Etsy

What it is: Etsy is an online marketplace where you can sell all sorts of handmade goods. That’s an excellent way to make money online if you’ve got a knack for arts and crafts.

How to get started: Open an account with Etsy and post high-quality images of your handmade goods. People worldwide can see what you have on offer and place an order through the site.

What to sell: Check out this list of popular items to sell on Etsy.

20. Sell Second-Hand Items On Poshmark/Mercari

What it is: You don’t have to make something from scratch to make money online. Instead, try putting your unwanted goods for sale on sites like Poshmark and Mercari. You’ll clear up some clutter from your home and make some money simultaneously!

How to get started: To sell your second-hand items, open an account with one of the sites mentioned above. Taking and posting high-quality pictures will also be very helpful in attracting buyers to your posts.

21. Flip Thrift Store Items On eBay

What it is: At this point, you know about flipping houses and flipping websites.

You can also do the same thing with low-cost thrift store items!

Just look for cheap thrift store items and sell them for higher prices through eBay.

How to get started: You can find things to sell by browsing your local thrift stores and garage sales. Then, focus on items you think will sell well online, like collectables and vintage toys.

Then, you can post each item online for interested buyers to purchase.

Read how you can sell thrifty items on eBay and this list of things to flip for profit.

22. Start An E-Commerce Store

What it is: Starting a physical store to sell products requires a considerable investment. Starting an eCommerce store is a more manageable approach, and it’s easy for beginners.

You can sell digital products (like the courses mentioned earlier) or physical products of your choosing.

How to get started: Shopify is one of the most popular platforms for building eCommerce sites, and for a good reason. Creating an account is quick and easy, and you can customize your store in all sorts of ways.

23. Online Tutoring

What it is: Students of all ages need help with the subjects they’re learning. That’s why online tutoring can be your answer to how to make money online for beginners.

Whether you’re good with elementary subjects like math or college-level Law courses, you can make money tutoring students online.

How to get started: Full list of online tutoring jobs to help students online.

24. Sell Services On Fiverr

What it is: Several times on this list, you’ve seen how to make money online for beginners that involve using Fiverr. The reason for that is Fiverr is a marketplace where you can sell all kinds of services online.

Aside from the money-making methods you read about earlier, you can also use Fiverr to sell services like logo designing, programming, business services and more.

How to get started: Firstly, think about the kinds of services that you’d like to offer online. Then, set up your Fiverr account and tailor it to the clients who need what you can do for them.

25. Make Money On Kashkick

What it is: Believe it or not, you can also make money from the online activities you’re probably already doing.

Kashkick pays you to complete ‘missions’ that involve watching videos, visiting websites, and answering surveys.

How to get started: There’s not much you have to do besides heading to KashKick and setting up a profile to get started.

26. Become A Social Media Influencer

What it is: Last but not least, another answer for how to make money online for beginners is to become a social media influencer.

Influencers generally make money by promoting their favorite brands online and earning a percentage of the sales they generate.

How to get started: First, pick your favorite social media channels where you want to build a following. Then, create content (e.g. videos and photo posts) that promote your favorite products.

As your following grows, you can form deals with brands to pay you a percentage for every product people buy through your profile.

27. Flip Websites For Profit

What it is: You might be familiar with how flipping works in real estate. Well, there are similar opportunities online.

You can make money by purchasing websites, improving them, and then selling them to other willing buyers.

How to get started: Find a blog or website that you enjoy and think you can improve on. Then, contact the administrator to see if they’re willing to sell it to you. Much like real estate in the real world, your negotiating skills will be helpful for this one!

Final Thoughts on Ways to Make Money Online

Learning how to make money online for beginners can be challenging at first, but don’t give up. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different methods.

Just remember to keep an open mind until you find the one that works for you.